Cavaliers at Trail Blazers
THE STORY: Two teams that have surprised in their own ways meet Sunday night at the Rose Garden when the Portland Trail Blazers host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Portland is already 4-0 at home this season. Now it hosts a resurgent Cavs team playing much better than the 19-win disaster team from last season. The Cavs are 1-1 on a mammoth 13-day, seven-city trip that includes games in each time zone. They already have as many victories over Western Conference teams on the road (one) as they had all last season. The Blazers hammered the Cavs by 41 at home last year and continue to quietly go about their work. Despite a disappointing 102-77 loss at Phoenix on Friday, the 5-2 Blazers remain one of the season’s early surprises. “Not a lot of people are sying much about Portland,” guard Raymond Felton said. “They ain’t talking about Portland making the playoffs. I like us staying under the radar. We don’t want nobody talking about us on TV. Nothing.”
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Ohio, Comcast SportsNet
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (4-3): The Cavs are learning how to finish off teams this season, something they struggled with last year. All four of their wins have been by double figures and their average margin of victory is 13.5 points. The roster is fairly similar to last season, but veterans like Anderson Varejao and Antawn Jamison are healthy after spending considerable time injured last year and rookie Kyrie Irving has dazzled at times at point guard.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (5-2): Turnovers have been on ongoing problem for the Blazers and it surfaced again in Saturday’s loss to the Suns. The Blazers had a combined 46 turnovers in consecutive games against the Nuggets and Clippers, then temporarily rectified the issue before committing 17 turnovers against the Suns. They resulted in 21 points and allowed Phoenix to become the third team this season to score at least 100 points on the Blazers.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Cavs rookie guard Mychel Thompson is the son of Mychal Thompson, whom the Blazers selected with the No. 1 pick in the 1978 draft. As a result, Mychel spent a portion of his childhood years in the Portland area.
2. Cavs center Anderson Varejao had 13 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks Friday against the Timberwolves. He is the first player in the league to post that type of line since Utah’s Paul Millsap had 15 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks at New Orleans on April 9, 2010.
3. The Blazers’ 77 points in their loss to the Suns was their lowest scoring output since losing at Memphis 86-73 on Dec. 13, 2010.